Politics

Forgery: Honestly I’m not ready for this Saraki case, FG’s lawyer tells judge

Published

8 years ago

September 28, 2016

Lawyer to the Federal Government, Aliyu Umar, has told a High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Yusuf Haliru to adjourn the alleged forgery trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki, his Deputy Ike Ekweremadu because he was not ready for the case.

Former clerk of the National Assembly and the first defendant‎ in the case, Salisu Maikasuwa, had filed an application urging the court to decline jurisdiction in the trial and quash the charges of forgery brought against him by the Federal Government.

The Senate President and his Deputy also tendered similar applications.

But Umar, prosecuting counsel for the government in the trial demanded for an adjournment of the case because he had an internal problem, unprepared, hence‎ will be unable to respond to the requests.

Umar said, “Just now, I became aware of a motion by the first defendant and served on us on September 26. The motion is fundamental because it is asking your lordship to decline jurisdiction and quash the charges. It is a short notice.

“Under the circumstances, I have not filed anything. It is fundamental to fair hearing. Under the circumstances, I will ask for an adjournment to enable me to respond to the motion.”

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Justice Haliru then asked if he had replied to other motions filed by the defendants.

Umar said he had not, insisting that he has some internal problems that he needed to sort out.‎ He added, “honestly, I’m not ready for this motion. If it is only just two days, grant us the adjournment to respond to the motion,” Umar said.

Counsel to Maikasuwa‎, Ikechukwu Ezechukwu; Mahmud Magaji, counsel to Benedict Efeturi, former deputy clerk of the National Assembly, the second defendant, Paul Erokoro, counsel to Saraki, the third defendant and Joseph Daodu, counsel to Ekweremadu, the fourth defendant all opposed the application for adjournment arguing that it was not necessary to adjourn the case since it was slated for trial on Wednesday.

The judge however adjourned the case to October 7 for hearing of the motions and trial after listening to all the parties.

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